A Winnipeg man is in critical condition after complications from a tooth removal, his mother said.
Angela Steele said her son Mason Woods, 23, had a wisdom tooth extracted on Feb. 27.
Steele said Woods came home after his surgery and was pleased the tooth was out and the surgery went well.
However, swelling and discomfort began soon after, Steele told CTV News.
Steele said Woods was back at the dentist on March 4 because the swelling hadn’t gone down and he was out of pain medication.
According to Steele, the doctor asked her son if he’d been taking his antibiotics. However, Woods was not given an antibiotic prescription, Steele said, only a prescription for pain medication.
She said Woods was then put on antibiotics and a “clean-up” procedure was scheduled.
After that procedure, Steele said Mason was admitted to Seven Oaks General Hospital because she couldn’t stay home to take care of him.
“Mason was looking like he had swallowed half a football on the right side of his head,” Steele said.
While he was at Seven Oaks, Mason was given a CT scan and moved to Health Sciences Centre.
“Everyone kept asking him the same questions. ‘Do you know what day of the week it is? What time is it? Who are you?’ You know, and Mason’s answers just kept getting worse and worse,” Steele said.
Woods then had another oral surgery to remove infection, Steele explained.
She visited him in recovery where she said he did not look well.
“He got as close to me as he could and kind of threw his head on my chest and he just looked up at me with huge, sad, freaked out, scared, doe eyes. I just kissed his head and told him it was going to be okay,” Steele said.
Soon after, Steele got a phone call from the hospital.
“As I am going up into the elevator, I get a phone call saying that he needs to have emergency neurosurgery.”
A piece of Mason’s skull was removed to reduce swelling, Steele explained.
“Since this whole thing started, it’s been, ‘He’s going to be ok, maybe not, he’s going to be ok, oh not so much, he’s doing ok, oh not so much,’” Steele said. “So, it’s been a real roller-coaster of a nightmare, one that I can’t get out of. I don’t know if my son is going to make it through any of this.”
“I am not aware of what went wrong, but something went wrong that a kid had one tooth out two weeks ago, and today he’s on life support fighting for his life, and a third of his skull has been removed.”
Doctors tell Steele her son will still have to have several surgeries.
For now, Steele said she and her family are focused on getting Woods healthy.
“I just want my son to live.”
Steele wants people to know they need to be more diligent when having a tooth removed.
“If something doesn’t feel 100 per cent right, they need to jump up and down, you know, and make sure that they’re being heard and seen. Not just trying to suck it up because it’s a wisdom tooth and it’s a little swollen and it’ll be ok.”
The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority released the following statement in response to questions about Woods' case:
"We are devastated to hear about the experience of this patient and his family. All surgeries, including dental surgeries, do carry a small risk of infection and it seems that in this case, the infection had progressed to become quite severe. We are doing everything we can to provide this patient with the care he needs in hospital right now.
We will not discuss the details of his case publicly but we have reached out to his family and would like to continue to work with them and offer whatever support we can to them at this time.
We urge all families and patients who are concerned about the care they receive or persistent symptoms to address those with their care team at any time.
The office of the chief medical officer for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority will be reviewing the timeline of this patients’ care and will follow up with family to discuss what they’ve learned."
